However….I also love X-Wing Miniatures and am a fairly active player. The dark day has come where X-Wing Miniatures has released Episode VII content!!

I’ve been putting this day off for months, living in denial. Luckily, my FLGS didn’t have it in stock and the store rule is:

If it’s not on the shelf, it’s not legal!

I mean, of course that doesn’t mean you have to check current inventory to see what you’re able to play, but in the case of a GenCon pre-release or the recent Force Friday at Target, you’re unable to use them.

Bad news is, time’s up. My FLGS should have them in stock this week, making them legal for our league play. I considered taking a hiatus from X-Wing, but there’s just too much cool stuff happening.

I’m currently taking part in an escalation league with tweaked rules. It’s a 4 week tournament in 30 point increments. To sum it up, Week 1, you had 30 points to spend on ships and upgrades, with any extra points carrying over. Week 2, you get to add another 30while still keeping your old list, and so on and so on. Week 4 is going to be 120 points. For Week 1, I ran:

At first glance it seems like 34 points, but re-read TIE/X1 again. You get a 4 point discount to any Systems upgrades.

I did well with this…I went 3-1, but so did 3 other people. Only one dude went 4-0 and his list was very similar. He took Vader instead of Juno and had to drop the Lightning Reflexes. Our second game starts on Thursday…I’m thinking of taking a Phantom, probably Sigma Squadron, with Fire Control System, Intelligence Agent, and Stygium Particle Accelerator, but I’m not sure.

The other cool thing happening is taking place this weekend, the SoCal X-Wing Championship Qualifiers. How it works is each game store is going to have their own tournament; the top four winners then go on to represent that store in a larger tournament. A win there isn’t only good for your ego, it’s good for your store, as well!

I definitely don’t want to miss either of those, but since the new Core Set ships, pilots, and upgrades are now legal, I reeeeeeally don’t want to be at a disadvantage.

So I’m gonna do it…I’m gonna open my box.

Well, more accurately, the girlfriend will be opening the box. Armed with a pair of scissors, crappy card sleeves, and a roll of tape, I’m about the receive the Almost Spoiler Free Core Set!

I used to HATE these sleeves, but they came in handy today!The “Rebel-ish” ships. Note that the Flavor Text, Ship Name, and Card Art have all been “redacted.”“Imperial-ish” Pilot Cards. I’m actually very tempted to use these…guess I’ll have to settle for shooting them down for the next three months.Upgrades. Not sure if Proton Torpedoes has new art on it or not…Take note of “Weapons Guidance” as an option for the new “Tech” Upgrade Slot.NO ART ALLOWED!!! But..what is life without art?!?!

Here’s what I’m not getting:

-The models (though I know I’m going to run into them…maybe my opponents will be nice enough to remove them from the bases, haha!)

-The cardboard for the pilots. I’m not allowed to use them in play until I see the movie.

-The top half of the dial.

I really didn’t want to do this…ideally, I would have just kept that box in the closet and opened it up when I came back from the movie. I guess, however, compromises must be made. Disappointingly, despite my girl’s best efforts (and this is not her fault in any way) a semi-spoiler was revealed to me.

SPOILERS!!!! SPOILERS!!!!SPOILERS!!!SPOILERS!!!

BB-8 is a new astromech! I’ve heard people talk about how they pre-ordered a BB-8 and it can roll or drive around or something like that, but I never really gave it much thought. I had a friend text me asking if I was going to get one, but I quickly reminded him of the Embargo and he went strangely silent. This spoiler makes me a little sad. Normally, whatever, it’s no big deal, but it makes me wonder about R2-D2 and what’s happened to him, or if he’s even in the movie. He’s gotta be…right? Of course he is…but what if he dies?

gah…stop it! This is why I hate spoilers.

END OF SPOILERS

Well, there’s some pretty powerful pilots in here, as well as upgrades. “Wired” seems to have some pretty crazy applications (imagine it on Ibtisam!) and I’m sure I’m going to run into that. Epsilon Leader has me somewhat fearful of Super Swarms or a Lambda Fortress, but then again, he/she is pretty expensive any ships that can really take advantage of it are going to be similarly expensive.

Anyway, I’ll keep you guys updated on how the Escalation League and Store Championships, as well as any future spoilers!